The Hard Way
by daenabenjen42
Summary: Some things just don't come easily... Post TPM, OCs.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Hard Way  
Characters: (OCs)  
Time Frame: Post-TPM

Disclaimer: Still not mine. (But the OCs are...)

Note: jackyyy17 gave me this challenge:

_Challenge: Write a story were no one gets killed, and everyone lives happily ever after.  
Catch: Must use the words: Death, deception, despair, and loath _

And now, on with the story...

Part one: Telekinesis

"I loathe you."

The man looked away from the window for a moment and frowned at his padawan. "What? Why?"

"For all the deception and despair and death we've seen, you still found a situation that was twice as bad as the last one we were in!" The girl struggled to free her hands from the shackles that held her wrists tightly. "Will you untie me, please?"

The man shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

She stared at him impatiently. "Master? Whatever is going on outside, you'd better come over here and untie me right now. Bird watching can wait."

"I'm not bird watching."

"Master!" Her tone was getting increasingly shrill.

"No."

"Untie me!"

He just looked at her sternly. "No. Do it yourself."

She stared at him. "Master! Untie me!"

"No." He looked out the window again.

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't tell me just how I'm supposed to do this." She was met with silence as he continued to stare out the window. "Please tell me?"

"Why?"

"Because if you don't, I will cleave you in two as soon as I get free on my own." This earned her a look of disdain. "Why'd you want me to do this excercise, anyway?"

"You know why."

They sat in silence for several minutes as she tried to wiggle and pull free of her bonds some more. Finally, she stared at him again. "I still loathe you, Master."

Later that day, to the mortification of her master, Padawan Moira Melyan finally learned the art of telekinesis. She left him tied to the chair.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It wasn't stated before, but Moira is Corellian and on an exchange program temporarily.

* * *

Part Two: Boredom and Surprises

* * *

Moira Melyan had never had a day like this before. Not only had she gotten the day off from her duties, but her Master had also told her to go enjoy it while she could.

Now if only she knew what she really wanted to do with it besides sitting there being abjectly bored out of her skull.

"Moira?" a familiar voice asked from the entryway to her quarters. "Why are you still here instead of out enjoying yourself?"

Moira looked up at her Master and sighed. "I don't know what to do and I'm bored."

Master Burrows smiled and gestured for her to get up and follow him. "Come on."

Moira followed him to the cafeteria, where he ordered an avocado salad for her and a mussel sandwich on rye for himself.

As they sat down to eat, Master Burrows looked at his padawan contemplatively. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, Master." Moira took a bite of her salad and then studied him. "I don't suppose you could suggest things to do on my first free day on Coruscant?"

Master Burrows ate some of his mussel sandwich while he considered that. "You could go see that holoshow that the Almari Senator is so fond of. Something the Extraterrestrial? I've heard it's good."

Moira stared at him. "What?"

"You are allowed to go to holoshows, Moira... I know a few other padawans who have a free day, if you'd want to spend the day with someone."

Moira smiled. "I'd like that."

~*~*~*~

_Dear family,_

_Hi! First off, Coruscant is strange. We've been here a month and it's been cold every day. Also, everywhere I go, there's politics happening. I know that shouldn't be odd, because politics come part and parcel with being Jedi, but at home it's not always as apparent._

_Today was a rarity. I had a free day for the first time since arriving, and got to spend time with another padawan of a friend of Master Burrows. Her name is Gilrean Elensar and we had as much fun as it was legal to have. That is to say: we weren't bored, and we also didn't break any laws._

_Mom, you'll be happy to know that I've finally learned telekinesis. Call Master Burrows and yell at him for tying me up for six hours, would ya? I'd call and tell you all about it, but I'm forbidden from making personal calls. Coruscanti Jedi rules stink._

_Will be home in two months. I hope._

_With much love,_

_Moira_

~*~*~*~

"This is so totally campy," Moira muttered as they studied for their cryptography exam. She sat back and rubbed her aching temples. "How are we supposed to learn steganography if the writing in the texts is indecipherable?!?!"

Gilrean, her study partner, laughed and patted Moira's shoulder. "You're looking at it wrong, Moira. Have a little patience, and it'll come."

Moira rolled her eyes. "It's still messed up."

"Didn't say it wasn't." Gilrean picked up a data pad off the table and read the information again. "Okay. Let's backtrack. Steganography is like cryptography..."

"Yes."

"And unlike it in what way?"

Moira sighed. "This isn't helping, Gilrean."

"Look, I don't exactly revere the subject, either, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can do something else... Just answer the question, Moira."

"It's unlike it, in that instead of just encoding messages in a secure file or something, the message can be hidden in plain sight."

"How?"

"In writing, pictures, mosaics... How does that help me right now?"

Gilrean just raised an eyebrow at her study partner. "Think on it, Moira."

Moira looked down at the hardcopy book sitting in front of her and studied the pictures. "I still don't get it. How could these have hidden messages in them?"

Gilrean sighed and muttered something in a language that Moira had never heard before. Moira glanced up at her, looking slightly puzzled. The words had been melodic and beautiful.

"What was that?"

"I'm illustrating hidden meanings," Gilrean said simply. "The language I just spoke in is a hidden message, like steganography, only verbal."

"Really? Can you teach me?"

Gilrean's eyes widened as she tucked a red-blonde strand of hair behind her ear. "Uh... sure."

~*~*~*~

Sometimes, when something big happens, there is a moment that preceded it.

A moment that changes things.

Where what is, what can be, and what will be... merge and become something else entirely.

This was one of those moments, though the two women seated at a table in the Jedi Temple Library did not yet know that.

Just as Moira Melyan was about ready to scream in frustration and cause a scene, a young man came up to the study table and began speaking to Gilrean in hushed tones, in that language that she'd been teaching to Moira.

Gilrean turned around and tried to shush him. "Not now, Golradir!"

[Yes now. (garbled words...) to see if the portal is charged up, so we can go home.]

"What portal?" Moira asked, having pieced together some of what he said. "What are you talking about?"

Gilrean glared at Golradir before turning back to Moira. "It's not important."

"Sure it is, or he wouldn't be using another language to talk to you about it... Now really, what portal?"

Gilrean sighed, stood up, and swatted Golradir on the back of the head. "You're an idiot, Peter... Come on, Moira. I'll explain things, but not here."

Moira gathered their study materials and followed the pair out of the temple library, wondering what was going on.

~*~*~*~

Gilrean ushered Moira and Golradir to the living quarters that she shared with her Master and shut the door firmly. Then she leaned against it and stared coldly at Golradir. "The next time I tell you that it can wait, you had better listen, Peter. I mean it."

"Didn't you say his name was Golradir?" Moira wondered, confusion evident in her tone and on her face.

"How was I to know that she knew our code language? Wait..." 'Golradir' looked at Moira. "You know Elvish?"

"Why the heck do you think I was shushing you?" Gilrean closed her eyes and let the age facade drop, and in moments she looked visibly older than 16. Maybe twenty-five or so?

Moira blinked, surprised. "What... what is Elvish?"

"That's the technical name of the language I was teaching you. It's from a popular book series that was made into a movie at home... Genius here couldn't take a hint and walk away when I told him to." Gilrean, who now looked ten years older than she had five minutes previous, motioned for Moira to take a seat. "And we are using code names. Peter is his real name, mine is Ranko."

"Oh... What was that he said about a portal and going home?"

"Well..." Ranko looked at Peter firmly. "Your turn. You got us into this mess."

Peter shook his head. "No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Technically, you did, so you should--"

"You two remind me of my parents when they argue." Moira looked between them, puzzled as could be. "Are you married?"

Ranko shook her head. "No. We are engaged. We're getting married when we get home, though."

"I am not explaining it," Peter said, folding his arms across his chest in defiance.

Ranko smiled at him. "You look so Jedi when you do that." She sat down next to Moira and smiled again. "The portal he was referring to is this." Here, Ranko pulled out a device that was round, kind of flat, and had an indicator screen mounted in the middle. "We call it 'The Frisbee,' but there's no word in Elvish for Frisbee, so..."

Moira studied the device, then looked at Ranko. "And?"

"And when we arrived, it completely ran out of power. Understandable, seeing as we usually end up on alternate versions of our home planet."

"Which is where?"

"In another dimension."

"Oh." Moira was silent for a moment before speaking again. "How'd you do that thing where your age... shifted?"

"You mean this?" Here Ranko's appearance in age shifted down to what would be relative to a ten year old, and then back up again.

"Yeah, that." Moira couldn't help but shudder as she watched it. "It's kinda creepy."

"Oh, that's nothing. There are times when she'll shift down to eight years old and jump on my lap or something. Or flirt." Peter shook his head, amused at the thought. "Ranko, stop showing off."

"Why? It's fun." Ranko glanced his way and noticed something amiss. "Peter? Your shadow's missing."

"Huh?" Moira swung her head around to look. "Oh, weird. Where'd it go?"

Peter concetrated for a moment. "It stayed in the library to mess with Dawn's senses."

"She's gonna be so mad at you later," Ranko told him before turning her attention back to Moira. "It's an attribute to our powers. Mine is age shifting, and Peter has a shadow that is sentient."

"Powers like the force? Because I've never heard of the Force doing that to a person's biology."

"No, powers like this. Red Lightning Wave Power!"

Moira stared as one moment Ranko was in Jedi robes and the next moment, with a flash of light, she was standing there in a red armored body suit that had ripples of white continuously moving across it in a wave-like pattern. "What in hell fire?"

Ranko powered down out of the armor and shrugged. "You asked. My team and I are on a training trip. This was the last place we expected to end up in, but it's been fairly educational."

"What kind of training trip involves going to other dimensions?"

"The kind where you're gonna be well trained and may be fighting car-sized spider changelings," Peter muttered.

Ranko rolled her eyes in Peter's direction. "You know why we couldn't go to the past, Peter."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Right..." Ranko turned back to Moira and motioned at the reading material that she'd brought with her. "So, now that you've had the explanation... Want to get back into studying?"

"How can you think of studying at a time like this?" Moira asked, still wide-eyed.

"Oh, don't argue with her, Moira. She always thinks about studying."

"Can I help it if I like school? It's fun!"

"And you have how many degrees? Ten?"

"Degrees in what?" Moira wondered.

Ranko thought about it, and then smiled. "Language arts, Cryptography, battle field strategy, and a few I'm forgetting right now. And because of me, it is now a military requirement to be bilingual."

Peter laughed. "Yes, because you're a language sponge."

"No, because it's easier to keep military secrets that way." Ranko pointed to the door. "Library, Moira. Now. Good thing."

"But I don't wanna!" Moira whined, not moving from her seat. "I want to stay here and talk about you guys."

"And if you fail that exam, I will tell Master Burrows why. Do you really want to fail and have to spend time with your master wherein he'll make you learn it the hard way?"

Moira glared at her. "That is so not fair."

"Most things in life aren't." Ranko pointed to the door again. "Now go."

Moira went. Grudgingly, but she went.

Ranko turned back and kissed Peter on the cheek. "I love you, but don't ever compromise our identities like that again. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Give 'The Frisbee' another week. We'll be home before you know it."

"Are you coming?" Moira asked from the doorway, looking impatient.

"Yes, Moira. We're coming." Ranko kissed him again, smiled, and followed Moira back to the Library to teach her the particulars of the subject at hand.

~*~*~*~

Master Burrows came into the Jedi Temple Library and handed a folded sheet of flimsy to Moira, who glanced at him in confusion. "Here."

"But what's it for?"

"Don't ask, Moira. Just read." He glanced at Gilrean. "How's the studying coming along?"

Gilrean smiled. "Better than it was. She has some trouble with pictographs, but other than that, it's good."

"Good." He looked at Moira and saw that she was staring at the sheet of flimsy in disbelief. "Moira?"

"My own mother isn't even on my side... Did she say anything to you about it?"

"Just that it had better not have been... you know. That thing that's not allowed here."

"Just because I'm sitting right here," Gilrean told him sweetly, "does not mean that you have to speak in code, Master Burrows."

"Huh?"

"Just what I said. And the word you're looking for here? Kinky."

The stunned expression on his face was enough to make Moira burst out laughing. Sadly, this attracted the attention of Jocasta Nu, the head librarian. "Shh! Others are working. Quiet!"

Moira sobered, and flashed an apologetic look at her. "Sorry, Master Nu. Won't happen again."

"Good," Master Nu said, and then left to tend her duty.

Master Burrows waited a moment, then looked quizzically at Gilrean. "How do you know a word like that?"

Gilrean rolled her eyes. "Please. We may be sheltered here, but we're not dumb as posts."

"Ranko!" Moira admonished. "Stop teasing him."

"I'm not. It's the truth... mostly."

Moira shook her head and turned to her Master, who was still staring at Gilrean. "You'll have to forgive her, Master. She's not up on temple ettiquette."

"Oh, is that what it is? Well, then." He picked up a datapad and keyed it for information, then handed it to Gilraen. "Here. Study this while you're helping Moira."

Gilrean read it slowly, then looked up at him. "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome."

~*~*~*~

_Dearest Moira,_

_I am happy that you finally learned the hallowed art of telekinesis. Well done. However, niether I, nor your loving father, are going to be yelling at your dear and darling Master for his training methods. If it helps you to learn, then he can tie you to a chair as many times as he pleases._

_Also, I am glad that you are making friends. Please, continue to leave laws unbroken._

_Your loving mother,  
Taneeya Basavan _

* * *

Weeks later...

"Why now?" Moira asked as she watched Ranko pack her things. "You said it would be a while before you had to go."

Ranko sighed. "Moira, it's been weeks. That constitutes 'a while' in broad terms."

"Didn't seem that long to me."

"Look, I'd love to stay, but..."

"But you're needed more at your home?"

"Exactly." Ranko stopped for a moment, then turned and handed a miniture device to Moira. "If you ever need us, use this."

"Huh?" Moira looked down at the device in her hands in confusion. "What is it?"

"A signal device. You press the buttons on both ends at the same time and it sends out a signal... If you ever need us, if the situation is THAT BAD, then call. We'll come."

Moira was puzzled, but nodded, and slipped the device into her pocket. "I understand."

Ranko smiled and went back to her packing.

~*~*~*~

_Dear Mother,_

_Thank you for the lovely, if sarcastic, letter. Yes, I realize that I needed to learn certain things, obviously, or I wouldn't be here in this place. I also realize that the man is my Jedi Master. This does not mean, however, that I was happy about the teaching method. I wasn't, but I did learn a little, and for that, I'd do it again._

_And another thing: Gilrean and her group went home today. I'll miss them, but I have this feeling that, somehow, I will see them again. That thought gives me comfort._

_This place is still boring, but... it's workable. I think..._

_Love,  
Moira_


End file.
